Gillard pays tribute to Bali bombing victims, survivors

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Bali governor Made Mangku Pastika visit the 2002 Bali bombings memorial monument in the Kuta tourist area near Denpasar, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on October 13. Photo: AFP

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has visited "ground zero" in Kuta, paying her respects to the victims of the 2002 Bali bombings.

The prime minister laid a floral tribute at the memorial in Kuta, across the road from where the Sari Club once stood.

Just after 11pm on October 12, 2002, a massive bomb loaded into a van was detonated outside the Sari Club. A suicide bomber had attacked the nearby Paddy's Bar just 20 seconds earlier.

The co-ordinated attacks left 202 people dead, including 88 Australians, and injured scores more.

Ms Gillard, who was accompanied at ground zero by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus, also inspected tributes to those killed placed on a fence on the outside of the former Sari Club site.

Hundreds of people, many of them Australian, watched on as Ms Gillard toured the area amid extremely tight security.

The visit to ground zero also comes after the prime minister joined several hundred Australians at a moving memorial service at Jimbaran on Friday to mark the 10th anniversary of the bombings.

“It’s been a very emotional period but a time for us to mark as a nation what was a nation-changing event, an event of such distress, of such magnitude,” Ms Gillard said.

But she also said it was a time to reflect on how the relationship between Indonesia and Australia had been strengthened in the aftermath of the turmoil of 2002.

“It’s with a great sense of sadness that I stand here today but I have felt a real sense of privilege too, to have the opportunity to speak to so many Australians yesterday and today.”

As she toured ground zero, Ms Gillard met with Robyn and Fiona Ross who lost their son and brother in the bombings.

David Ross was one of seven members of Perth’s Kingsley Football Club killed in the blast that levelled the Sari Club. He was 20 at the time.

As they chatted with the prime minister, Fiona clutched a photo of her brother to her chest.

“When you hear about more of the things that happened, I guess it does bring it home,” Fiona, now also 20, later said.

“What really gets me is that I feel horrible that somebody else has had to go through what our family has,” she added.

Robyn Ross said they made the pilgrimage back to Bali, a place which was such an overwhelming source of pain for them, partly as an act of defiance.

“We don’t want to be intimidated by terrorists. That’s one of the reasons why we came to Bali for the 10th anniversary.”

Ms Gillard also paid tribute to Bali Governor Made Pastika, the former top cop who led the Indonesian police investigation into the bombings.

Mr Pastika, who greeted Ms Gillard at the bombing site on Saturday, said the relationship between Australia and Indonesia had only grown stronger in the 10 years since the bombing.

“There is a significant spirit, a stronger friendship and brotherhood, to fight against terrorism,” Mr Pastika told AAP.